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Foundry Group CERTIFIED

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TheFunded.com algorithm or a Member has detected highly suspicious review activity by the following organization(s). In the majority of cases, the organization in question has pressured CEOs to write favorable remarks and contribute favorable ratings. Readers are advised to interpret the reviews with caution. This warning will expire on April 15, 2011.

Firm Rating:

Rated 4.4 / 5.0 by 22

TrackRecord

4.8

OperatingCompetence

4.7

PitchingEfficiency

4.6

FavorableDeal Terms

3.5

ExecutionAssistance

4.4

Firm Homepage:

FIRM OVERVIEW: Large Private VC founded in 2007 based out of Boulder, CO (US Central)

FIRM DESCRIPTION: Foundry Group is a venture capital firm focused on investing in early stage information technology companies.

Posted by
Successful Entrepreneur
on 2011-01-01

PUBLIC:

I have known Brad Feld since about 1990, when he was recently out of MIT and running Feld Technology. He has a deep technical background in software and IS design, and he became convinced as early as 1994 that "the Internet will take change the world."

Brad is great! Very honest and straight forward, no B.S. Foundry Group is clearly the top VC firm in Colorado.

WIth most VCs an introduction is almost a necessity. An introduction would obviously help with Brad but is much less necessary, I think. The reason is that Brad has already done a lot of pre-thinking and already knows the sectors he is interested in and the approach that he thinks people should take. So more than most VCs, he will already be up the learning curve. The downside is that you might have a great idea outside his areas of interest, and if so, I suspect he might turn you down even if it will be the next Google. So one way to approach him would be to send a one pager, revealing no confidential information. If it is an area he is not interested in, then he will turn you down very quickly and you don't have to worry about having revealed anything. On his website and the sites of Foundry Group and his partners, they talk about the themes they are interested in, so see if you fit within one of those themes. If you do not, there is still no harm in sending a one pager.

Foundry Group will invest at the seed or Series A stage, I don't think they have a preference. They say they are syndication agnostic so they will not care whether you have another VC to invest. In other words, they have no problem being the lead, I strongly suspect they prefer being the lead.

Brad is very product oriented. Rather than talking about the product, show it to him. If your site is not yet functional, show him a mockup. He likes entrepreneurs who are passionate about the product (e.g., Steve Jobs).

Brad tends to look at things from the point of view of the entrepreneur, in part because he has been one.

I suspect he is much less interested in financial projections than most VCs. I believe he will invest based on the market, the product and the team. If he likes these, he probably already has in his mind a financial model that will be more accurate than the one you have come up with.

Brad is a very active blogger (www.feld.com) and along with Fred Wilson (www.avc.com), he is one of the VC blogs you should definitely read. In particular, the series on VC term sheets he wrote with his partner should be read by every entrepreneur who is raising capital:

My only interaction with Jason Mendelson has been several emails over the past few years, but my impression of him is also quite favorable. He has become Foundry Group's internal expert on "when should a startup operate in stealth mode and when should it actively seek publicity?"

Posted by
tschesnok
on 2011-02-07

PUBLIC:

We pitched to 30+ firms for our B-Round in 2009 and got a good dose of the VC world. Some good, some not so much. Foundry was the only firm where we did not have a direct intro. I started reading Brad's blog and felt that they really understood our space. An email, a phone call, a meeting with Brad, then a meeting with everyone and a term sheet within a month. The best part, a year+ into the investment - they really are who they appear to be on their blogs.

Posted by
johnmilton
on 2010-11-15

PUBLIC:

Clearly Brad Feld has mastered the art of multi-tasking 47 hours worth of wotk into 28 minutes worth of time. I'm about to email him a Exec Summ that he *requested* after we'd exchanged a couple of short emails prompted by a blog he wrote. He seems (at least in the digital sphere) to be a genuine mensch.

Posted by
eastcoaster
on 2010-07-25

PUBLIC:

Brad took a look at our last round of financing. He loved our product but for various reasons couldn't get over the hump to invest.

Fast forward to now - I keep in touch with Brad - an I legitimately get MORE evangelizing and better contacts from Brad - who is NOT an investor - than from VCs who have major investments and board seats. Wow.

Brad and Foundry have a front row seat for whatever my next endeavor is - I can't imagine the level of support provided for a portfolio company if this is what I get with a NO.